Swansboro Post 78 16-0 heading into District II playoffs

No, Swansboro Junior Legion Post 78 center fielder Cayse Perry is trying to catch his and ball with his glove but is running through a drill designed to help he and his teammates become better bunters. Post 78 (16-0) opens the District II playoffs Wednesday night, playing host to Morehead City.

Rick Scoppe/The Daily News

By Rick Scoppe-Rick.Scoppe@JDNews.com

Published: Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at 07:30 AM.

SWANSBORO | So exactly what does a 16-0 baseball team look like? Exhibit A: Swansboro Junior American Legion Post 78, which is seeded No. 1 and undefeated heading into the eight-team, double-elimination District II playoffs that begin Wednesday.

So what makes a team 16-0?

Is it having seven players hitting .400 or better?

Post 78 does.

Is it having six pitchers who can win a game?

Post 78 has that, too, coach Scott Mastranunzio said.

Is it having a defense that makes the routine plays routinely?

Don’t look now, but Post 78 fits the bill again.

But that’s only part of the equation that has added up to a perfect regular season for Post 78, which plays host to eighth-seeded Morehead City in the opening round of the playoffs at 7 p.m. There’s also things that can’t be measured by numbers.

“They’re 100 percent a team,” Mastranunzio said Monday before practice. “They play together. They hang out together. They’re friends first and foremost, and on a lot of teams the dynamics are not like that. This group of kids is one giant family.”

Center fielder Cayse Perry agreed, pointing to team chemistry as the key.

“We’re all more together than any team I’ve ever been on in my life,” the 17-year-old said. “We all hang out. We all get along. None of us have a lot of stuff that we don’t see eye to eye on. ... There’s not a lot of pressure. We just have fun and hang out and win ballgames.”

Dillon Herbert, who has pitched and played every position but catcher, center field and left field this year, also pointed to “team chemistry.” He said it dates back to the days when a lot of the players first started playing together in middle school.

“And as soon as we got on the field we meshed and so for all us to finally get back on the field together (in Junior Legion) and not be split up, it’s like we didn’t skip a day,” he said. “There’s no bickering. There’s no squabbling. When you don’t have that small, stupid stuff happening, it just changes everything. ... Just the amount of team chemistry is incredible. It’s great to see so many kids come out here and just really enjoy the game of baseball.”

In other words, Post 78 is having fun, and why not? It’s undefeated and almost assuredly headed to the state championship series July 18-23 in Cary – both finalist from District II advance to the double-elimination state championships.

“This is the most fun I’ve had coaching,” Mastranunzio said. “They make my job easy.”

That’s because they’re not only willing to listen, he said, but they listen and learn. They don’t always pick up the lessons immediately, but neither does it take extra innings for them to figure it out.

“With kids these age, a lot of times you’re having to correct things over and over and over again,” he said. “With these guys, you tell them once and they may struggle with a little bit, but they just pick it up right after that and move forward.”

The key on the field, Mastranunzio said, has been hitting. Seven players are batting .400 or better, led by Herbert at .455 with a team-high 16 RBIs. Perry and Jake Schopp are hitting .429 while Tripp Creech is at .413 with a team-best 10 doubles.

Moreover, Post 78 obviously has a good eye at the plate. Swansboro has just 77 strikeouts in 495 plate appearances.

“We don’t really have a lot of holes in the lineup,” Mastranunzio said.

Or on the mound, either. Mastranunzio said he had a “myriad” of pitchers he can turn to and then counted them off, one through six. Beyond that, he said his pitchers work to go deep into games.

“We’ve got some arms,” he said, including Schopp (3-0), a right-hander who will start the playoff opener.

Herbert said defense has been a big key, pointing to the team’s philosophy, set by Mastranunzio, that understands “mental mistakes will happen, but we need to eliminate physical mistakes as much as possible.”

“We just (said) we’re going to do this and we’re going to do it right,” Herbert said. “Maybe not the great plays, but the consistent defensive plays is what’s helped a lot.”

Perry struggled to come up with one specific on-the-field key to the team’s success.

“That’s a hard one to say,” he said. “It’s pretty solid all the way around. Our pitching is probably one of the best in our conference, and our hitting we have nine batters normally that can step up to the plate and do something.”

For all Post 78’s success the past three years, including two straight District II titles, Swansboro has come up empty at the state championships, going 0-2 the past two years – including two years ago when it hosted the tournament.

Mastranunzio said that doesn’t gnaw at him, saying the losses were “close games. We just came up short.”

But Perry and Herbert say going winless in the state tournament bothers them. And while they know they have to get through the District II playoffs first – Post 78 would have to be considered a heavy favorite to win it – they both are also anxious to lay claim to a win or two (or more) in the state championships.

“We’ve lost two, left. This year I think we have a chance to go up there and actually win one for once and have a good time,” Perry said. “But we have to make it through district first.”

Herbert said going winless in the state championships “gnaws at you a little bit.”

“Hindsight’s 20-20. You can look back and say we should have done this, we should have done that,” Herbert said. “I think that part of it was the getting there. Everybody kind of lost their cool and was just like, ‘Oh, it’s states. Everybody’s going to be better. We should be knocking the ball out of the park,’ and just forgetting what they were doing.

“But with the team that we have this year ... we’re not going to dominate anybody, but we can come out and compete with anybody. The fact that we know that is what is going to keep us focused and hopefully we’ll be able to win at least a couple games this year.”

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SWANSBORO | So exactly what does a 16-0 baseball team look like? Exhibit A: Swansboro Junior American Legion Post 78, which is seeded No. 1 and undefeated heading into the eight-team, double-elimination District II playoffs that begin Wednesday.

So what makes a team 16-0?

Is it having seven players hitting .400 or better?

Post 78 does.

Is it having six pitchers who can win a game?

Post 78 has that, too, coach Scott Mastranunzio said.

Is it having a defense that makes the routine plays routinely?

Don’t look now, but Post 78 fits the bill again.

But that’s only part of the equation that has added up to a perfect regular season for Post 78, which plays host to eighth-seeded Morehead City in the opening round of the playoffs at 7 p.m. There’s also things that can’t be measured by numbers.

“They’re 100 percent a team,” Mastranunzio said Monday before practice. “They play together. They hang out together. They’re friends first and foremost, and on a lot of teams the dynamics are not like that. This group of kids is one giant family.”

Center fielder Cayse Perry agreed, pointing to team chemistry as the key.

“We’re all more together than any team I’ve ever been on in my life,” the 17-year-old said. “We all hang out. We all get along. None of us have a lot of stuff that we don’t see eye to eye on. ... There’s not a lot of pressure. We just have fun and hang out and win ballgames.”

Dillon Herbert, who has pitched and played every position but catcher, center field and left field this year, also pointed to “team chemistry.” He said it dates back to the days when a lot of the players first started playing together in middle school.

“And as soon as we got on the field we meshed and so for all us to finally get back on the field together (in Junior Legion) and not be split up, it’s like we didn’t skip a day,” he said. “There’s no bickering. There’s no squabbling. When you don’t have that small, stupid stuff happening, it just changes everything. ... Just the amount of team chemistry is incredible. It’s great to see so many kids come out here and just really enjoy the game of baseball.”

In other words, Post 78 is having fun, and why not? It’s undefeated and almost assuredly headed to the state championship series July 18-23 in Cary – both finalist from District II advance to the double-elimination state championships.

“This is the most fun I’ve had coaching,” Mastranunzio said. “They make my job easy.”

That’s because they’re not only willing to listen, he said, but they listen and learn. They don’t always pick up the lessons immediately, but neither does it take extra innings for them to figure it out.

“With kids these age, a lot of times you’re having to correct things over and over and over again,” he said. “With these guys, you tell them once and they may struggle with a little bit, but they just pick it up right after that and move forward.”

The key on the field, Mastranunzio said, has been hitting. Seven players are batting .400 or better, led by Herbert at .455 with a team-high 16 RBIs. Perry and Jake Schopp are hitting .429 while Tripp Creech is at .413 with a team-best 10 doubles.

Moreover, Post 78 obviously has a good eye at the plate. Swansboro has just 77 strikeouts in 495 plate appearances.

“We don’t really have a lot of holes in the lineup,” Mastranunzio said.

Or on the mound, either. Mastranunzio said he had a “myriad” of pitchers he can turn to and then counted them off, one through six. Beyond that, he said his pitchers work to go deep into games.

“We’ve got some arms,” he said, including Schopp (3-0), a right-hander who will start the playoff opener.

Herbert said defense has been a big key, pointing to the team’s philosophy, set by Mastranunzio, that understands “mental mistakes will happen, but we need to eliminate physical mistakes as much as possible.”

“We just (said) we’re going to do this and we’re going to do it right,” Herbert said. “Maybe not the great plays, but the consistent defensive plays is what’s helped a lot.”

Perry struggled to come up with one specific on-the-field key to the team’s success.

“That’s a hard one to say,” he said. “It’s pretty solid all the way around. Our pitching is probably one of the best in our conference, and our hitting we have nine batters normally that can step up to the plate and do something.”

For all Post 78’s success the past three years, including two straight District II titles, Swansboro has come up empty at the state championships, going 0-2 the past two years – including two years ago when it hosted the tournament.

Mastranunzio said that doesn’t gnaw at him, saying the losses were “close games. We just came up short.”

But Perry and Herbert say going winless in the state tournament bothers them. And while they know they have to get through the District II playoffs first – Post 78 would have to be considered a heavy favorite to win it – they both are also anxious to lay claim to a win or two (or more) in the state championships.

“We’ve lost two, left. This year I think we have a chance to go up there and actually win one for once and have a good time,” Perry said. “But we have to make it through district first.”

Herbert said going winless in the state championships “gnaws at you a little bit.”

“Hindsight’s 20-20. You can look back and say we should have done this, we should have done that,” Herbert said. “I think that part of it was the getting there. Everybody kind of lost their cool and was just like, ‘Oh, it’s states. Everybody’s going to be better. We should be knocking the ball out of the park,’ and just forgetting what they were doing.

“But with the team that we have this year ... we’re not going to dominate anybody, but we can come out and compete with anybody. The fact that we know that is what is going to keep us focused and hopefully we’ll be able to win at least a couple games this year.”